john thomas. juliet. martha. david. todd rubin. times we have causen remembrance and reflection in unity. >> all these people gathered here today. we have not forgotten the

heroism of the husbands, wives, sons and daughters. >> more than a decade has now passed since that day of tragedy. but the visions and the events are seared in the memory of every american. gerri: hello, everybody. we are pausing to remember that fateful day back in 2001 that forever changed america and americans. we are asking a big question. is the u.s. stronger today than was 11 years ago? it is our lead story tonight. not only was the business community greatly affected by the tragedy, but the entire nation in the world. you might've noticed some of the biggest newspapers failed to

mention 9/11 on their front page, and we think it's deserves more than just a brief mention. my next guest says the war on terror is not over. k.t. mcfarland is a fox news national expert and former deputy assistant secretary of defense. katie matt, great to have you here. are we stronger today than we were 11 years ago? >> we are resilient. but are we safer? al qaeda is a shadow of its former self. but al qaeda has changed. it has moved to the middle east and africa. the important thing to really remember about this as americans, we like to say that we won this war and we're moving on. but it was a world war ii or world war i -- we get on with things come we don't hold grudges against countries that we have fought and we move on. we are fighting an adversary

here. rethinking of peace is the normal state of affairs. it is a very different look. it is a different look and a different feel. gerri: people think that it is all over. i want to show you some front pages from newspapers all over the country. they don't have 9/11, the remembrance, on their front pages, whether you are talking about her hometown or these papers and where is the story? nbc's today showdid not take their moment of silence for 9/11. instead they had an interview with the kardashian's. >> we are still shuffling through this. the age of innocence is over. to pretend that everything is just like it was before

september 11 is really quite foolish it is so important in america when this war, and we are not that chronic low-level wars, but if you look at who's going to win if we don't -- who sets the world's? not in countries like us. not people like us who have the good interest of the world. if nobody leaves them up you that it's a lost agenda of. gerri: stock of understanding of the biggest threat is to us today. what do you see as the emerging threat to this country? >> i think the greatest threat to the united states in 10 states is the economy. if you don't fix the economy, nothing else counts. everything is collateral damage. there is no money for defense for intelligence. no money for foreign aid. first, fix the economy. reagan understood that in 1980. we had a far worse economy than we have now and he turned the economy and now we first need to

fix the economy and then realize the threat is in nuclear iran and the long-range threat is an assertive militaries china. gerri: i wanted to address the comments from leon panetta about the book by a navy seal recounting takedown of the modern. >> i think we have to take steps to make clear to him and the american people that we are not going to accept this kind of behavior. gerri: they are going to punch this guy? really? >> the guy should've cemented the book. i had to do things in a row. however, i've read that book but there is nothing in there that revealed sources. i have to say, it is pretty rich to watch a member of this administration. this is an administration that has leaked classified information to make a political point for president obama is a great leader.

they have put people in prison and for them to say we are going to prosecute you, but we've done a lot worse than you have. gerri: as a side note, you can line onto fox news.com. for more 9/11 information. are we stronger as a nation today than we were 11 years ago? i will share the results end of tonight's show. we asked that very same question to people over the country today on the streets of new york. here's what some had to say. >> definitely, oh, yes, we are totally aware and we are very prepared and we take a lot of precautions. >> i don't really think so. there are a lot of show and not a lot of actual proven effectiveness.

>> i understand that i see why. they are trying to keep us safe. but i think in some aspects, we still have a storm. gerri: the presidential candidates remembering 9/11. the truth isn't going as far as the 2000 election day. that is one obama and john mccain made a joint appearance at a 9/11 memorial. what is the difference this time around? joining me now is stephen hayes. stephen, we know that they are not at this site together, but they could have gone together somewhere, right? >> yes, they probably could've done something. in 2000 it was john mccain who had some serious credibility on these issues and barack obama who was the young upstart end to

measure himself against john mccain. that partially explain why they did this back in 2008. but this was sort of a half-truth today. gerri: do think that we're going to see this kind of tone continued for the rest of the day? for the rest of the week? >> no, it's done. you have david axelrod taking a shot. eager to get back to campaigning and whatever path they have for the day is going to be over and over in a hurry,. >> you mentioned that the twitter account of david axelrod talking, it would help to make his owner -- what do you make of that? >> this has been a case that obama campaign has been pushing about mitt romney for a long time. they are trying to imply and have been for quite some time

that he wants the policies. the obama campaign thinks it is making progress by making our case. i rethink would say the with the "washington post" abc poll today, they might be right. barack obama actually is doing better on taxes and that is a pretty striking moments the one that is a striking moment. you know, we talked a lot about the polls. but what about the money? presidential campaign spending in swing states. 575 million. are you kidding me? where is this going to be like come fall? do think the voters start to get tired of this that? >> i know that voters start to get tired of this stuff. i have spent some time over the past several weeks in wisconsin and in ohio before heading down to the conventions, and you turn

on your tv is there, particularly in ohio, and it is just campaign ads 24/7. that's all it is. really unbelievable and i have to believe that voters at a certain point -- not only do they get sick of it, but very early on they started doing these things out. gerri: it's interesting because political came out with a story this week talking about how the person who is levying the most personal attacks is actually president obama. is that paying off? >> yes, i think it is. i think it is paying off there is a downside president obama, too. his favorability and likability numbers.

on the other hand you have mitt romney and his campaign repeatedly say when they criticize president obama that he is a nice guy, but, he is in over his head. i think that they are foolish to do that. that doesn't mean that they have to get nasty about it, but every time that they say that he's a nice guy, reinforcing this idea that he is a good guide. gerri: the battle will go on and i hope you come back to talk to us about it. we appreciate your time. gerri: and coulter drops by with her take on the chicago teachers right. and i will be joined by one senator who says it's time for president obama's rhetoric to meet reality. we are not better off than we were four years ago. that is republican jon barrasso of wyoming. he joins me when we come back 4g lte has the fastest speeds.

so let's talk about coverage. based on this chart, who would you choose ? wow. you guys take a minute. zon, hands down. i'm going to show you guys another chart. pretty obvious. i don't think color matters. pretty obvious. what'sretty obvious about it ? that verizon has the coverage.

verin. verizon. we're going to go to another chart. it doesn't really matter how you present it. it doesn't matter how you present it. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

gerri: it is rhetoric versus reality. it's according to her next guest was fighting back against the president's claim that we are better off now than we were four years ago. republican senator jon barrasso joins us now. great to have you. you say it should be reality over rhetoric. what is the reality and rhetoric? >> we just saw the new unemployment numbers on friday. unemployment rates are still over 80%. forty-three straight months now. what we see is that for every one person that found a job, for people gave us looking for work. that is the only reason that the unemployment rates haven't gone up higher. we have 23 million americans who are either unemployed or underemployed. that is not the right prescription for a healthy economy. gerri: senator, is that true, and that is the facts, and it is

grim, a new gallup poll shows the president leading mitt romney 50 to 44%. how can that be when the economic news is so bleak? >> well, the new "washington post" poll out today after both of the conventions are people likely to to vote on election day -- that was one point apart. so i think that a lot is going to come down to the debate starting in october. but i would suggest that mitt romney continued to talk about the things that are important to people around the country. that is jobs, the economy, the debt, and the spending all of those issues, president obama loses. gerri: senator, how well did mitt romney discuss the well did mitt romney discuss these things? let me read you some comments from folks. republicans, conservatives, who say that mitt romney really isn't making the case. our own rupert murdoch who runs news corporation that owns the network says that romney must draw a clear line. to win, you must open to

sympathetic families. romney's calculation seems to be that he can win the election without having to explain the economic policy. a republican former senate majority leader says he needs to be clear. there seems to be a growing consensus on the right that mitt romney just as in making the case. what are your thoughts? >> welcome in the case is there to be made. we need affordable energy in this country. electricity rates continue to skyrocket. the price of gasoline at the pump is the highest it has ever been on a labor day weekend. just this past year the president continues to block the xl pipeline. mitt romney would approve that on day one. we would be producing more american energy and spending less money overseas. >> sir, you're not answering my question. does the case need to be made more clearly, more persuasively by mitt romney that this economy

is in a bad state and that barack obama may not be the man to help it recover. >> mitt romney has a reputation for being able to create new jobs. he has done that successfully. he will continue to make that case and it will come out additionally in the debate. people believe the country is not on the right track. they believe that they are worse off now than they were when president obama took office. so when you take a look back at the last four years and the president who now says he deserves a great incomplete and wants once more time -- does he deserve more time? no, because people believe the country is on the wrong track. gerri: senator, thank you for coming on tonight. there will be a lot of polls between now and the election day. thank you for coming on, sir. >> thank you, gerri, it's great to be with you. gerri: fact checkers and journalists debate over the republican and democratic national conventions.

one thing is for sure, the speakers talked a lot about themselves. in tonight's top five, speakers would use the words like i, my, me, mine the most. number four, writ on trent mitt romney, the republican candidate only referenced himself 91 times. number three, the opponent never afraid to toot his own horn, president obama had 103 moments. this did surprise me. the first lady, michelle obama, her stories of life before the white house. 112 references to herself. ann romney only had 67. but the number one speaker was vice president joe biden. by a wide margin. he talked about himself 135 times in his primetime address. i guess we should just be thankful that he didn't say anything worse. >> coming up on "the willis report", the buzz around this

big bear hug has many wondering is obama really for the little guy. gerri breaks down the little facts that small business owners should know. labor day is long gone but chicago schools are out for summer. and coulter weighs in on the latest developments as teachers hit the picket lines for day two of the strike. and the debate about that action and stimulus. will we get a definite answer this we? we will find out what's ahead. we are on the case next on "the willis

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gerri: it was a heartwarming moment on the campaign trail this weekend when the president got a big hug from a restaurant owner in florida. interesting and weird and wonderful at the same time. the president made no bones about how health has been a critical administration issue. >> we honor the strivers and the dreamers and the risk takers and the entrepreneurs who have always been the driving force behind our free enterprise system. the greatest engine of growth and prosperity the world has ever known. >> it sounds really nice. but what do small businesses need most? they need money. while the president claims giving loans to small businesses is a top priority, the reality is the loans to small business are less than $1 million in sales and are down 60% in just two years in 2010.

take a look at this chart. it tells the entire story. you go back to the recovery in the loan value at 634 billion, we should be to 607 billion. it is ridiculous. meanwhile, governments own loan program, according to the gao, obama's small-business lending fund was expected to about $30 billion, but it founded just 332 of the 935 applications. at the end, only $400 billion was wiped out. the president has cut tax is 18 times. their tax counsel says much of the stuff is small potatoes. this is an extension of an existing program and not anything new from the president. one that expires at the end of

the year. other things are less exciting, like a cell phone deduction. that is nice, to deduct from the cost of your cell phone for business use. it's not going to save anybody a lot of money. you can't hire a new employee with it. some breaks are simply more applicable to big business rather than small ones. the big problem is so many of these breaks are temporary. there is nothing are nothing small-business operators can count on going forward. it is no wonder that small-business optimism is the lowest level since july. august was barely better. it turns out to be just that, claims. these are the folks that need our support because they are the ones who hire and yes, they did go back. coming up, summer vacation continues for chicago students as teachers remain on the picket lines and not in the classrooms. i will get reaction from women

never afraid to speak her mind. and coulter is coming up next

gerri: chicago negotiators sitting with city officials instead of in the classroom. the cpu has signed up only six of the 49 articles in the contract. a long way to go here. the union denied reports on the cash strapped city on a 30% pay hike. a 25% pay raise over two years. with more on this, we have ann coulter author of the book, mother, racial demagoguery from obama. that comes out september 25. would he make of this.

i'm supposed to feel better now? >> this is what the fight has turned into in obama's backyard in chicago. meanwhile, they ranked chicago public school students only 79% of eighth graders are proficient in reading, 80% in math. they are making twice what the average chicago resident is making. that is before benefits. besides the fact that they only work eight months a year and until 2:00 p.m. there is. >> they are the smart parents who want to send their kids to the charter schools and private schools lock rahm emanuel does. gerri: i find it amazing that we are not talking about performance.

you mentioned a variety of metrics. 39.4%, that's the lowest it has ever been. only 60% of high school students stay in class. where is the fight? don't need to be doing better for chicago and chicago students and parents? >> oh, yes, but everything the government gets its hands on is up in the price and i noticed that i think it was cory booker. saying that every family has the right to a good job to a portable health care, to a good education. what nobody said, everyone has a right to a cell phone service that works. why? because cell phones have gone cheaper and better. it is if you are standing in a

soviet them on. gerri: it's like we're stuck in 1987. that was the last big chicago strike. nineteen days. chicago strike for 19 days calling the mayor and telling them you have to fix this. could that happen again? >> i would hope so. the polls have indicated that those bitterly that are least supportive of the teachers and white chicagoans who are spending money to send their kids to private schools and say oh, yes, i support the teachers. your kids are not being ruined. your kids are learning to read and write. it reminds us once again that this is the democratic party and not the people who need health care or the elderly. it is the government workers who provide these services. not very well, but it is the government union. they are in a kind of optical. gerri: that is exactly where i

was going to lead to macs. this is a debate within the debate. the most ardent supporters of the president. the president is quiet. what does that tell you? >> i would imagine that one of his political advisers would tell him that you're going to have a soldier moment. but i don't think he's going to. he is going to stand up and say this is insane that you are you're making more than the people paying their salaries. come on, we are in the middle of a recession. $76,000 of before benefits. >> this is an unnecessary strike. he needs to step up his redick rhetoric more, don't you think? >> he needs to do what he does

best. >> they are contributing to percent of their pension. there are layers to this. not just a conversation about salaries and the 401k. i don't have a pension and for goodness sakes, i contribute to more than 2% and i think that most of us do. when you look at the comparison, so many people walk away saying, oh, how can this be the case. no, and that's the problem with this tripe like this. on one hand and the unions can be bullies and they can bully people. on the other hand, when they go through a big brouhaha like this, people start to notice what they're being paid. is the death decimal point in the wrong place your? >> exactly. we have big financial problems in the state. they can't make their budget, this is a warning sign for the rest of the country.

now we see scott walker won his recall with a larger margin than he won his election. i think that's what we can expect with president romney doing what the federal union. this is just the state and and local. all taxpayers are paying for this at the federal level. gerri: we have a long way to go. we have to go. come back to talk about your book ann coulter. >> i will in a couple of weeks. gerri: excellent. it a new warning about our nation's debt. it will be announcement of qe-3 do more harm than good? but look at what many are calling a sugar high for investors coming up next

gerri: a new warning today from moody's credit rating agency. it says america is rating will be downgraded again unless congress gets its act together quickly. how speaker john boehner threw cold water on that prospect this afternoon by saying that a deal is a long way off. for some analysis now, jeffrey miron. welcome back to the show. all right, what you make of this?

>> it's great to be here. gerri: do you think that movies will downgrade us again? >> i suspect that they well. i think it is going to be very hard for the two sides to come to any meaningful order substantive agreement. we are going to get another stalemate. gerri: here is what movies said. the rating outlook assumes a relatively orderly process for the increase in statutory debt limit. these people don't know the relatively orderly processes. there is a lot of that throwing, i can't even imagine it's going to be orderly. >> of course not. but there is this fundamental disagreement about what the right way forward is. i mean, it's useful to debate that because of these that the conversation about what people care about. but since there is no will to cut the spending, there is really no hope and they are

doing something that is sensible for them and playing to their district and their state. they come from different districts and different states and they don't agree on what the shape of government should be. >> i think that party politics has something to do with it, too. i do want to hear what john boehner from the speaker of the house had to say today. he was asked if he was competent but a budget deal could be done to avoid the fiscal court. >> listen, the house has done its job. on both sides. on both the sequester and on the looming tax hikes that cost economies of some 700,000 jobs. gerri: what is the economic impact to another downgrade? >> i don't think the economic impact of a downgrade in and of itself is a big deal. i think everyone has more or less factored in the there is

this downgrade in the background. everybody knows that the debt situation is completely unsustainable. the problem is that country after country after country has been in a situation like this and things may be going along okay. but they do fall, they happen without much warning. we have seen that in europe in many occasions. we are going to keep pretending that this is all going to work out. gerri: i'm sure that you will be around to talk to us when it does happen. jeffrey, thanks for coming on the show tonight. always a pleasure to see you. >> my pleasure, thank you. gerri: major movements in the market said of thursday's announcement. u.s. and global stocks rallying while the dollar weakened ahead of expectations. german ben bernanke will signal for yet another round of quantitative easing. with more, president of the mj

advisors joins me now. david, it's great to see you. glad to have you on the show. >> it is nice to be with you. you said that he is on the brink of providing additional accommodation, ben bernanke. what you think the fed will specifically do? >> i think we will see the famous qe-3. remember, we have been out this since late 2008. qe-1 and qe-2. the fed is convinced that they will help the markets by pumping even more liquidity into the markets. people say as you noted earlier, it could be a sugar high. the fed feels it can push rates down a little bit more, even though record lows are taking place and look of the stock market. they are betting heavily on the idea that the fed will pump a lot more liquidity into the economy and keep that stock market going up. >> well, there is the economy and then there is the market. what about the economy? what about people? what about jobs?

qe-3 -- will it help anybody other than traitors? >> well, not much. i think we are near the end of the road for the fed. the fed feels that if they push rates down a little bit and push the stock market up a little bit that we can see somewhat faster growth. ben bernanke is worried about two things. we are growing too slowly and there is no sustained improvement in the labor market. hubert referred to the labor market in his recent speech at jackson hole, wyoming, as very grave. that's a pretty strong word for it federal reserve chairman. the fed can't do much more. it is all in the hands of the white house and congress with regard to this school clip. the only way to get real growth to get businesses clarity on the fiscal side. how much our taxes going up and are they going up at all.

how much it's spending going to be cut in and what is the regulatory picture. what are medical costs for businesses and business employees. all of that is really the key to whether or not we can get growth. not so much whether the fed does qe-3 or not as i expect them to do. >> are we going to see inflation go through the roof? >> are certainly a downside in the sense that the fed has been artificially pushing rates down and artificially pushing stock prices up. when they stop do not come, when they turn around with an exit strategy, rates are going to shoot higher and stocks are going to come down sharply. there's no question about that. the question of inflation is that someday all of that money could be inflationary. the point is that we are still in a very slow growth period. unemployment is high. wages are really stable. there is no immediate inflationary threat.

gerri: in the meantime, they have no returns on their investments right now. david, thank you for coming on the show tonight and i hope you come again sometime soon. thank you. >> thank you. >> all right, mike "two cents more" is still to come. despite this employment picture, my next guest says he sees a glimmer of hope in the housing market. what this means for you and your wallet coming up next.

gerri: home prices

gerri: in focus tonight, our nation's housing market. have we had bottom? according to barron's recent cover story, we have and things are looking up red as much a 7% for prices. just how soon and where? michael, it's great to have you here. what is the analysis? >> the analysis to this prognostication. >> rightly so, obviously, many people have tried to call the bottom of the housing market and a 7%, it is cumulative over the next three years. while you're really saying in the numbers are showing us is that we are stabilized. some of the markets -- they are based on a few things. the average incomes in each individual metro market and the affordability of homes in those

markets. it is a supply demand in individual markets not nationwide. >> but it totally depends on what happens to employment, right? >> in terms of whether we go beyond that, it is based on unemployment. it is not just houses are affordable amount based on what you could otherwise rent for what was going on, but whether you can qualify. it is about whether the employment situation improves or not. >> this is that the outcome of this is what i want to see. phoenix, which was desperate, denver had a huge foreclosure problem which has done well the whole way. people love that city. >> actually, even dallas looks like they are pretty sturdy right now. gerri: what kind of things are we talking about their? >> you might be looking at 20 to 25% over three years.

now, again, that's not going to get you anywhere near where prices in that market were five and seven years ago. they have had a huge problem. but if you're looking for opportunity out there, and these are the housing markets with the smallest gain. linda, detroit. orlando. detroit is interesting. >> it is. obviously, it is a city that has been hollowed out by the population. detroit and cleveland, a lot of those cities, simply they are not going to have the population growth and income growth really to support higher housing prices. it's just going to kind of stay in the dumps. >> one of the expertise i spoke to says there could be as much as a 10% gain. when this thing turns, it is really going to turn. you're going to wish that he would have been in this. >> part of that is because we have tremendous pent-up demand for new homes.

we have had this depletion of new household formation and people doubling up. once it gets moving, many documents are created as you sell a home. once you're are able to sell the one you're sitting on, it has a little bit of a momentum effect. i'm wondering if things are going to get a little looser with their standards as to who they will hand out loans to. >> the biggest things are dealing with the backlog of not just foreclosures or potential foreclosures, but also basically, cleaning up the mess. but i do think that we have seen the worst in terms of tightening of lending standards. gerri: all right, and a great story on the cover this week. we will be right back with her question of the day answer. is the u.s. stronger than we were 11 years ago. and mike "two cents more" on drivers. breaking through to the other side and not paying for it why this has me fired up coming up

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gerri: americans pause to to remember the anniversariry of the september 11th attacks. here is what our posting on my facebook page. greg said, no. i believe we've taken a few steps backwards. we are no longer people stand together. people divided and hateful to each other. dave says we're only as strong as our leadership. to me we lost a lot. time to make a change to true leadership. we asked the question on gerriwillis.com. 5% said yes. 95% said no. interesting stuff. log on to gerriwillis.com for our online question every weekday. finally tonight something a little lighter.

as if states are not struggling enough, states could be missing out on millions of dollars in unpaid tolls. in maryland, one car rental company owes the state more than $200,000 thanks to drivers repeatedly blowing through the easy pass lanes without an easy pass. other rental companies owe thousands more and have for eight years. millions more are owed by maryland individual vehicle owners. nostates are fed up and they're not going to take it anymore. many are suspending vehicle registration, even out-of-state to violators. new jersey has gone so far to arrest to cheats. nobody wants to pay tolls. i don't want to pay tolls. you don't want to pay tolls. i get that. they're a reality. now i'm worried that the tolls will continue to about go up to make up for losses once again punishing folks that play by the rules. that is my two cents more. new iphone is coming and speculation and hype. apple isho